~ Namaste ~

Archive for the ‘recipes’ Category

Spring break has come to a rather uneventful close. No crazy parties to speak of (well, we did make an appearance at The Popin on Friday night – apparently it’s socially acceptable to wear a rat on your shoulder as if it were a parrot in public here. “Hey, isn’t that rat underage!?” Good times), just some much needed down time, lots of reading and writing, and some spring cleaning leaving me with a de-cluttered bedroom and a load of laundry smelling of Spring time.

Oooh and a visit to the olive man yesterday…his goodies (?) made an appearance in today’s lunch.

Lettuce, red bell pepper, and zucchini from my produce guy, and olives and dolmas from my olive guy. It’s so weird – I think I finally realized I live here this Spring break…I have an olive guy, a produce guy, a cheese guy. Yep, all mine.

I spent the afternoon wandering the streets, soaking in the glory of a light jacket and moderate temperatures. That’s another strange thing – changing seasons! Darn. Guess I’ll have to get a new wardrobe

I headed to the marais, the best place to be on Sundays in the city in my personal opinion, and celebrated Spring with a frozen yogurt and a new cotton dress, then headed to the Bastille area to pick up a couple spices for a little some somethin’ I had in mind for tonight’s dinner.

But not before seeing this.

Ohhhh, Paris. You just never know what you’re gonna get. Pack of crazy rollerbladers? Why not!?

After my three hour walk, I headed home to spend some time in the kitchen. I wish I could give you a recipe, but since I have no measuring tools here, we’ll think of it more as a method. Or perhaps, maybe a little inspiration to get in the kitchen and just do what smells right, so to speak…

I made a stew type thingy. Not sure what I’d call this really, but I usually like to make a bunch of veggies on Sundays since the weeks are so hectic and have them on hand. I used up my new produce (ya know, from my produce guy) and came up with this creation. It had:

- bacon

-onion

- garlic

- Italian seasoning

- mushrooms

- zucchini

- eggplant

- tomato paste

- 1 can cherry tomatoes (that I crushed later with a fork)

- 1 can cannellini beans

I started by sautéing the bacon, then added the onions once a little of the fat had melted. Once the onions were translucent, I added the garlic and Italian seasoning, sautéed for a minute, then added the mushrooms, zucchini, and eggplant.

Once all of that cooked down, I added the tomato paste, canned tomatoes, and cannellini beans. I always do the tomato paste like my Nana does – I let it cook with the veggies for a bit before adding the canned tomatoes so it can sweeten up and almost caramelize. The extra minute works wonders.

This was such a yummy dinner after a long day of walking and went perfectly with a piece of quinoa bread with fresh farmer’s market goat cheese…

Yum. I do love me some chevre. I especially loved the Spring/Summer-esque veggies. I’m already excited to get in the kitchen this Summer – my ideas have been flowing and I have tons of great ideas for when I have all of my kitchen tools at my disposal.

The rest of my evening has been spent reading and watching garbage on Netflix. Nothin’ like a little LA Ink on a Sunday night

I’ll leave you with a new favorite. I constantly find myself reading poetry – looking for it, reading it, talking about it, thinking about it. I just love it. 

This is what you should do:
Love the earth and sun and animals,
despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
stand up for the stupid and crazy,
devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants,
argue not concerning God,
have patience and indulgence toward the people…
reexamine all you have been told in school or church or in any book,
dismiss what insults your very soul,
and your flesh shall become a great poem.

                                             – Walt Whitman

Random questions…

What’s your favorite TV show?

I’m not sure, but one day this week I just decided I wanted to watch LA Ink. I’m ashamed to admit that I’m really loving it. They are such artists!

Other than what I can see on Netflix, I have no idea what shows or movies are out right now. We have no TV here, but I kinda like it.

What’s your favorite poem? Favorite poet?

I love all things Rumi lately. Please share your favorites, as I’m always looking for new stuff!

I woke up this morning with the urge to get in the kitchen. The sun had just come up – my shining hours. I love the mornings and always feel the most creative and alive when the day is young. I knew I wanted to spend this morning making something yummy before time slipped away and I got all caught up in my day.

Cooking is like therapy – I always get lost in stirring and mixing, feeling soothed by the smells and sounds of a tasty work in progress. I like to think of recipes more like methods, kind of like a math problem or a series of steps or ideas. This + that = delicious.

My roommate and I were just talking yesterday about this, actually. She loves to bake, and quite frankly… I can’t stand it. Perhaps it’s the mental scars of a day spent baking banana bread, only to spill the entire pan of batter on the floor and run fleeing to my room, sobbing uncontrollably. Perhaps this sob session wasn’t about the banana bread…

Anyway, I digress. She likes it because it’s so exact – there’s measurements and rules to follow that create a final product. But that’s exactly why I can’t stand it. I actually don’t have any measuring cups in my apartment here – and I’m finding it quite liberating. No measuring oats, or quinoa, or this or that.

I just like to throw stuff in and see what happens. It’s much more fun like that, yes?

So this morning, I donned my apron (okay, really I donned my polka dot pajamas, but apron sounded much more 1950’s-housewife-home-made-granola-esque), grabbed my red pan and wooden spoon and made another batch of stove top granola, only this time….better.

This time I toasted the almonds and walnuts with the oats making them nice and crunchy, used a little bit more butter (because, well, why not?), agave as a sweetener, and the magic ingredient – grey salt.

I picked up this very large bag of Gros sel Guérande at the agricultural fair this past weekend (look for a post soon!) for 2 euro and have been using it in everything since. It’s an all natural and unrefined salt from Guérande, France and is quite famous in the culinary world…or so I hear. I do know for certain that it tastes delicious and that it made all the difference in my stove-top granola this morning.

After getting lost in the scents of cinnamon and melting butter, I made some breakfast with my fresh batch of granola.

I mixed some plain yogurt with about 1 tablespoon of chia seeds, and topped it with the crispy granola that was sweet and salty to perfection, as well as a little dollop of somethin’ special…

Vanilla Chestnut Cream. So delicious. So dangerous, but so delicious. It’s all about balance…right?

Question: Baking or cooking…which do you prefer and why? Do you use measuring cups when you cook? Do you follow recipes or do you do your own thing?

I used to be clueless in the kitchen – like didn’t know how to put anything together. I started to experiment a bit and gave myself permission to get creative and try things when I cook. After a while of following recipes I had a general idea of what might taste good together and also drew from experiences dining out and trying new combinations in restaurants. Sometimes my creations are are flops, but sometimes, like this morning, it works.

Have a good day, my friends.

First off – Thank you for your honest and encouraging comments on my post about the ideal size and slenderness last Friday. It’s quite amazing how many people share some of the same thoughts, and I appreciate everyone opening up. I’m certainly going to read through those comments when I need a lift

I spent the weekend soaking up my free time, practicing a different kind of yoga than the physical stuff I spoke of on Friday. This past week was crazy, so I practiced just relaxing and enjoying ever second of the weekend.

I’m still shocked, however, that it’s Sunday. Yet again. Doesn’t it seem like it’s always Sunday!? I feel like I’m constantly ending one week and starting another. And is it seriously the second week of March already!? Time really does fly when you’re having fun.

There was a cold front in Paris this weekend, but it’s a different kind of cold than the frigid, unbearable weather we had in January. The temps were only in the upper 20’s and low 30’s all weekend, but it was a-okay with me. The sky was a gorgeous shade of blue, and the air was crisp, making hints that Spring is just around the corner.

I went all over Paris on foot yesterday starting early at our market, then heading to see some sites in the afternoon. First stop – Cimetière du Père-Lachaise. I actually ran into one of my classmates when I walked into the cemetery – of all the places in the city we both chose Père-Lachaise to visit at the exact same time. Go figure!

I decided to stroll through on my own though, taking myself on a date with my camera as I often like to do.

I wandered around with no direction in mind really – didn’t even get a chance stop by to pay my respects to Oscar Wilde or Jim Morisson. Don’t worry, I’ll pay them a visit soon!

I headed to the metro after a little over an hour there, and what do you know – my friend was leaving at the exact same time. Seriously small world.

I had plans to had to Montmartre…and so did she! Weird! I was headed up to meet up with my roommate, so we took the metro there together. I spent the rest of the afternoon strolling around the area, eventually running into this establishment. Perhaps you’ve heard of it?

(Clearly I have some tiny specks inside my camera – it’s in the camera body, as the specks are there with any lens I put on it…any ideas? I’ve tried cleaning it, but alas, the specks remain)

As much as I’d like to attend a show there, I think I’m gonna have to stick to window shopping on this one. It’s $150 a pop at the Moulin Rouge. Yikes!

Around 4:00pm or so we decided to head to Trocadero, mostly because we saw a bus that said Trocadero on the front and can never resist a gorgeous view of la Tour Eiffel. Why not!?

We never actually made it to Trocadero, however, and found ourselves  distracted by a park that I can’t remember the name of, and eventually at the Arc de Triomphe. 

Paris in a day? Well, we sure did try!

We wandered down the Champs-Elysees until we found a metro stop, then made our way home to rest for a bit before dinner. I had plans to meet up with another friend at a little French restaurant (where I ate the most delicious salad – imitation recipe to come soon!) so after stopping to refresh at home for a minute, I headed right back out run a couple errands before dinner. I picked up a package at school (Thanks for the coffee Mom and Dad!), and stopped to buy some almond butter since mine is nearing it’s end.

Well, dinner turned into a 2 hour event followed by drinks at a piano bar, box full of coffee and almond butter jar in hand.

Normal. Totally normal. Nothin’ like a little almond butter to go with red wine and jazzy renditions of everything from Edith Piaf’s Je Ne Regrette Rien, to Britney Spears’ Toxic.  Good times.

It was such a nice day to spend wandering around, not thinking about school and just soaking up my free time doing whatever came up. Today has been really low key in comparison to yesterday’s adventures – a trip to the Salon de l’Agriculture (stay tuned!), homework, and 21 euros worth of laundry. Gotta love the laundry here.

I took some time to make a delicious dinner tonight given the slow pace of Sunday. Everything I’ve cooked lately is really simple. We don’t have many spices here, even though I keep meaning to go pick some up. Even our cooking utensils are simple – we don’t have a single measuring cup so we make do with what we’ve got.  Like tonight – quinoa measured in a leftover yogurt container.

1 yogurt cup dry quinoa, 2 yogurt cups water. Simple.

Along with my quinoa I made a Bok Choy, Red Bell Pepper and Onion Stir-Fry. So good it deserves capital letters.

Once the onions and peppers cooked down a bit, I added the bok choy and a little bit of soy sauce and sriracha. I purposely made extra so I could have lunch tomorrow since the week is going to get crazy again.

Once the veggies had cooked, I moved half of them to a container for tomorrow, and added some rotisserie chicken (see my post Everyday Pantry Staples for more details) to the pan with the remaining veggies for a little protein action.

Et voila!

I’ve really been loving simple and healthy dinners like this lately. I bought vegetables at the market yesterday with no real ideas in mind and it’s always fun to create something with what I have on hand.

I’ve only ever cooked with bok choy one other time and I’m really liking it. There’s a dish back home with soba noodles, bell peppers, bok choy, mushrooms and other veggies in a miso broth topped with salmon at one of my favorite restaurants… I’m thinking I’m going to have to try to replicate that with a gluten free version soon now that I’m learning to cook with bok choy. Perhaps a trip to the Asian district is in order!

Well, I’m off to enjoy the rest of this Sunday evening – the very little bit that’s left. No worries – I’m certain it will be Sunday again before I know it. I’m especially excited about the next one…Spring Break! I can taste it now…

Question: Have you cooked with any new ingredients lately? Do you ever pick out ingredients you’ve never cooked with…just to see what happens?

I have to start thinking of my next new to me ingredient… So many vegetables and not enough time!

Have a good one!

I mentioned yesterday that we started an intensive module class this week. Two weeks of  Global Communications everyday from 10:00am to 6:00pm with other visits in addition.

Like this morning, for example… We were going to a conference at Cephalon Pharmaceuticals European headquarters and had to leave the house at 8:30am to arrive on time. This is after being at Le Cordon Bleu last night until past 9:00pm, doing our reading and other homework for today, and trying to get a good night’s sleep before waking up bright and early this morning.

Needless to say it’s been a busy week so far. The visits are all great and class is really interesting, but I was so thankful to have my afternoon free today. I finally got home around 3:00pm this afternoon, and wanted nothing more than to just do something for fun.

I thought I might want to hop on my yoga mat for a little, but I was just too tired. I’m trying this new thing where I actually listen to my body when it’s too tired. You know, like not pushing it when it’s begging me to just chill. Interesting concept, yes? Sarcasm.

Anyway. Taking a cue from my tired bod, I headed to my favorite room in any house – the kitchen.

Lately I’ve been craving granola. I make it all the time back home, but without an oven I haven’t even tried.

Until today.

Stove Top Granola

Since I don’t have a single measuring cup in Paris, this is really more of a method rather than a recipe. It was really easy to make and took all of 15 minutes, so I think it will come in handy even if you do have an oven back home – it’s super quick, and you only dirty up one pan making clean up very easy. Most importantly, it’s delicious.

First, I toasted the oats (maybe about 1.5 to 2 cups) in a dry pan on the stove. And of course by stove, I mean hot plate.

I turned the heat up to medium-high and stirred the oats constantly until they browned.

Next up – Honey. And Butter.  Trust me. Butter makes everything better.

I let the butter and honey (maybe about 1tbspn each) melt together in the pan, then added cinnamon, salt, almonds and walnuts. I added the nuts whole, mostly because I don’t have a knife to chop them (gotta love my tiny Parisian kitchen). They would be great chopped too and you could use any nuts you have on hand, or whichever ones you like.

Stop lookin’ at me like I’m nuts. Get it? Granola humor! Enough jokes. Back to the granola…and I’m not referring to myself!

Ok this time, I’m really done.

Once that had all toasted for a bit (maybe 5 minutes), I added the toasted oats back in the pan and let them all mix together.

The oats soaked up the remaining butter and honey and the granola dried out really well making it very crunchy.

I decided to stir in some coconut flakes once it had cooled for a few minutes…

Mmm. I’ve missed my homemade granola, and felt so cozy and happy this afternoon, munching on fresh granola with fromage frais, soaking up my free afternoon, and basking in the glorious smell of cinnamon, honey and butter that lingered in the house after I made it.

You could really make this granola with anything you like in it – dried pineapple would have been great with the coconut in this recipe. Any dried fruit and any nut you like would work great.

Well, this nut is back to the books. Have a good Wednesday!

I woke up yesterday morning with that dreaded “tickle” in the back of my throat. You know the one – It’s subtle, but it’s never a good sign of good things to come. After cursing the sick people roaming around Paris spreading their germs I headed straight to the kitchen to chug some Vitamin C, make some tea, and say my prayers in hopes of keeping the tickle at just that.

I went to bed super early last night, fingers crossed that I’d wake up without the headache and earache that had slowly been developing over the course of yesterday but alas, I awoke this morning to a pounding headache, itchy eyes, pressure in my ears, and a throat that feels like it’s been massaged with sandpaper. Awesome.

Of course we all want the comforts of home when we aren’t feeling well, and since the comforts of home are several thousand miles away right now for me, I went with the next best thing.

Soup. But not just any soup. This is special soup and deserves a special name. I think I’ll call this “I’m Really Far From Home, Not Feeling Too Well, Want Soup But Am Too Sick To Make Soup” Soup. Kind of has a ring to it, dontchya think?

So. Here’s how you make soup, when you’re too sick to make soup.

First, you find whatever veggies you have in the fridge – I happened to have a little bit of broccoli that needed to be eaten, but any kind of leftover veggies or uncooked veggies you have on hand would work wonderfully. Then, put it in a pot with some pre-prepared soup of your choice. I happened to have a box of pumpkin soup from the supermarket here, but I know at home (and by home I mean in the US) they have tons of boxed soups like butternut squash, roasted bell pepper, yada yada yada. As much as I don’t like pre-packaged stuff like this, I’m willing to suppress my inner food snob and do what’s easiest when I’m under the weather. Know what I mean?

Anyway. I digress.  Next step – turn up the heat, and let everything warm up, or in my case let the broccoli cook through. Add in whatever protein you like – I happened to have some rotisserie chicken leftover from last night, but if  you have something else leftover or are a veggie, then chickpeas, black beans, etc. would work great too. Let it all come to a simmer and let it do it’s work until it’s heated through. Et voila! Soup!

I’d like you to know that this was my breakfast. Soup. For breakfast. I never said I was normal.

Lean in close and I’ll tell you the secret behind making this soup. The reason making this soup is so simple, is that you aren’t really making it! Et voila!

It was so delicious that I had it again for lunch, but this time with some spinach I got at the market the other day. Same process, just a different veggie. Like so…

Et voila! Soup!

These little bowls of comforting goodness were definitely bright spots in the day. And the best part is that it literally took less than 5 minutes to have a hot bowl of soup in front of me.

It’s no novel idea, but maybe my “soup recipe” will help you when you’re under the weather too and give you the creativity you need to make something healthy and quick when you’re sick. Hey look, I’m a poet and didn’t know it!

Clearly whatever illness I have is making me looney. Don’t worry, I haven’t forgot about all of the questions you asked last week. I had planned to answer all things France today, but am just too darn tired. Please forgive me Stay tuned for all my answers tomorrow.

Do you have a go-to recipe when you’re sick? Any pre-packaged foods that you like to jazz up?

I’m off to cuddle up in bed and attempt some homework. And maybe make another bowl of soup.

It’s the beginning of week 7 here in Paris and I just can’t believe it. It’s a big week at school – midterms, papers, readings, museum visits. The works. I’m savoring all the little “me-moments” I can get!

Is that selfish? Well….good.

Let’s see. “Me-moment” number one. Chocolate. Did you know that it’s a vegetable? And it’s also an acceptable breakfast food? Well, a girl can dream…

I seriously can’t get enough of this dark chocolate. Thank you Gillian Young….seriously. I love this stuff. I’ve been eating it with my coffee. In the mornings. With breakfast. Don’t judge.

“Me-moment” number two. One hour of glorious yoga. Glorious, grounding, booty-kickin’ yoga. It felt so good to spend some time on the mat, feelin’ the changes in my body. Not judging them, just feeling them. My hips and hamstrings are tighter they have been in a long time, but that’s okay…it’s proof that I’ve been wandering this glorious city on foot! But I’m glad I got on the mat and stretched it out a bit – not to mention I’ve gotta keep that handstand practice up so I can take pictures all over the city when the weather gets better

“Me-moment” number three was delicious. I haven’t made a real dinner at home for myself in what feels like forever so I spent some time in the kitchen this evening cookin’ up something healthy and delicious.

On the menu…quinoa. Love this stuff.

We are really fancy here. Like the cover to our pot? Like I said, fancy.

One of my latest favorite thing to cook is onions and peppers. Just slice ‘em up, and let them do their thang (yes, a technical term) in the pan with some EVOO until they are browned and delicious.

Ohh. And if you feel extra fancy, splash in some balsamic vinegar at the end and let it cook down a bit. It gets all sweet and syrupy and delicious. Mmm.

et Voila! Dinner is served!

Quinoa, steamed broccoli, peppers and onions and an over medium egg. Nothing special but it sure was good. Mmmm.

I’m finding it really easy to eat healthy in Paris. And you know what else? I love that everyone eats food the way it was supposed to be eaten. Low-fat things like yogurt and milk are scarcely available, but full fat dairy is clearly the most popular choice. Also, when you go to the charcuterie, you don’t see them advertising for lean chicken and low fat bison – nope, not here. Bring on the marbled cuts of steak! Oh, and on any given day you can wander to a marché and buy fresh, local produce.

I had a little moment of clarity when I thought about all of that today. I cooked my dinner tonight in lots of olive oil, and fried the egg in butter. I’ve been snacking on flavorful cheeses and some of the creamiest yogurt I’ve had in quite some time, and heating almonds and cashews like it’s going out of style. And I feel gooooooooooood. Healthy and wholesome. And gooooooood.

Yep. Such a simple thing, and something that causes lots of fear and anxiety for us Type-A perfectionist-perfect-eater-non-cheaters-yada-yada-yada. Trust me, I have my moments, especially living in a place where I’m surrounded by chocolate and pastries and butter. Lots of butter. But why would we go and try to mess up something as glorious as crème liquide  (ahem, which I may or may not have been putting in my coffee), by taking all the fat out!? Now THAT sounds crazy.

Well. Enough about me. Did you have any “me-moments” for yourself today? What’s something you do everyday that is just for you?

It’s bedtime for me, friends. I turn into a pumpkin after midnight  

Good night!